Hair devoted to Proserpine

Till a lock of hair is devoted to Proserpine, she refuses to
release the soul from the dying body. When Dido mounted the funeral
pile, she lingered in suffering till Juno sent Iris to cut off a lock
of her hair. Thanatos did the same for Alcestis, when she gave her life
for her husband. And in all sacrifices a forelock was first cut off
from the head of the victim as an offering to the black queen.